In SVG We Trust wrote:Cowology wrote:I don't think that proves you can't win with a C as your number one option so much as it illustrates how weak the position has become over all. There is a serious lack of talent at that positron. You put a player the caliber of Ewing in today's league and he'd be dominant.DBC10 wrote:Honestly, looking around the league, as a center, you better know how to stretch the floor or play elite level defense for a team to go anywhere.
When's the last time a team won it all with an center as their number 1 option? Shaq? Does KG (a PF/C) count as a number 1 option that wont it all? IMO the center position is one of the least important position in this day and age. These new era PFs that can do the rebounding and bang down low or those that stretch the floor have largely cannibalized the center position.
It's not about talent, it's about to be effective in today's game, and if you're not an elite C on offense, you better let your offensive development and focus your training to be a defensive anchor, because it's what a C needs in these days.
Look a player like Brook Lopez. The guy is pure talent and he isn't in the elites C conversations because his game is not efficient for these days style of game.
I bet you the Warriors would choose DeAndre instead of Cousins for their team. Why? Because they have more efficient ways to score than what Cousins could offer, but rim protection is always required. Damn, have you notice how important a hustle guy like Andersen was to the LeBron's Heat?
It's absolutely false the C position is the less important nowadays. And you only have to look at the medium salary of the position to figure how false is that sentence (I know it was DBC10 who said this).
I think we largely agree, but I only meant that the C position is less important largely due to there being no true dominant centers anymore and has been that way for years now. I made that comment in concurrency of the recent trends. It's always been in recent memory, those defensive and hustle Cs that have largely won it all for other teams since the rise of the elite PGs and SFs of this new era along with a much more perimeter-oriented game.
Which is why I believe centers really aren't that important, UNLESS you're an absolute elite dominant big man which there is none of in today's game. There may be some in the next couple years like KAT, Davis, and Embiid, but its not now.